This is shaping up to be quite the time for management at the major Indian airlines. A few weeks ago we learned about IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers was resigning, and now we’re learning about Air India CEO Campbell Wilson resigning as well.
In this post:
Campbell Wilson leaving Air India after four years
Air India has confirmed that CEO Campbell Wilson has resigned, and a committee has now been launched to find a successor in the coming months. In a statement, the airline shared the following, suggesting that Wilson has been planning on leaving since 2024:
“Wilson had conveyed his intention to step down in 2026 to Air India Chairman N. Chandrasekaran in 2024 and, since then, has been working to ensure the organisation and leadership team is on a stable footing for the transition. He will remain in the role until his successor is announced and in place.”
For context, Wilson is 55 years old and originally from New Zealand, and he became CEO of Air India as of June 2022. Prior to that, Wilson worked at Singapore Airlines going as far back as 1996. In 2011, he became the founding CEO of Scoot, Singapore Airlines’ low cost carrier.
Wilson’s tenure at Air India had some highs and lows
In the case of IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers, it’s clear he resigned because he was forced out, following the recent operational meltdown at the airline. Meanwhile in the case of Air India CEO Campbell Wilson, the claim is that he had been planning on resigning going as far back as 2024, so this isn’t at all sudden.
I have mixed feelings on Wilson’s tenure at Air India. On the plus side, he truly set the airline on a new path, and so much about the Air India experience has changed under his leadership. At the same time, in terms of passenger experience and profitability, Air India is still a long ways off from what the goal is.
When it comes to passenger experience, the airline has done a good job reconfiguring its narrow body fleet, but everything about the long haul product has taken way longer than planned. As it stands, Air India has a single Dreamliner that’s in service with long haul interiors specifically intended for the airline, which isn’t exactly a great showing.
Admittedly supply chain problems have been prevalent in the airline industry for so long. But when you need to undergo a transformation fast, it’s a bit disappointing how little he has to show for new long haul cabins, four years later.
Then it goes without saying that Air India also faced some major headwinds within the past year, between navigating airspace closures, plus the crash of Air India flight AI171. Admittedly none of these were Wilson’s fault, but the airline recorded an absolutely massive loss last year, among its biggest in history, so that’s not exactly great for a turnaround following privatization.
It’ll be interesting to see who replaces Wilson. In the case of IndiGo, former IAG CEO Willie Walsh will become the new CEO. So I’m curious to see how the selection process compares at Air India. You’d think they’d recruit an Indian national for the job, based on the backlash airlines have received for hiring foreign CEOs.
But I’m also not sure who the right guy for the job would be. If they do go with an ex-pat again, I think former American CEO Doug Parker has some time on his hands. Or maybe former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce? 😉
Bottom line
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson will be resigning, roughly four years after tackling the turnaround of India’s national carrier. While Air India is no doubt moving in the right direction, the transformation simply hasn’t gotten as far as was hoped after four years, and Air India also dealt with some major setbacks.
It’s interesting to see the CEOs at India’s two largest airlines resign one after the other, and I’m curious if Air India also taps a former CEO from another major airline.
What do you make of Wilson resigning, and who do you think will replace him?
You couldn't change the direction of the Exxon Valdez in a day. I don't fly Air India because I've only been to its land twice. That being said, it appears the airline has improved service and ops under Campbell has gone up. Say all you will about the evils of America but lack of efficiency that ain't us. Bureaucracy is a structured, hierarchical system of administration used by governments and large organizations to manage complex...
You couldn't change the direction of the Exxon Valdez in a day. I don't fly Air India because I've only been to its land twice. That being said, it appears the airline has improved service and ops under Campbell has gone up. Say all you will about the evils of America but lack of efficiency that ain't us. Bureaucracy is a structured, hierarchical system of administration used by governments and large organizations to manage complex tasks through specialized, non-elected officials and rigid, impersonal rules. It is frequently criticized for causing red tape, inflexibility, and inefficiency. That is from Gemini AI, but even Tata can't seem to win....
@Ben - There seems to be a lot of racist comments in the comments section of this article. You may need to consider if this is actually adding value and what kind a message this is sending across..
I heard they were being bought by Greyhound.
The reason is right there in the name, INDIA!
Filipinos are smellier, but not by much. Send that country some soap STAT!
So what will happen to a policy regarding urinating on your seatmate ?
"Emirates may have showers... but ours are golden!"
Alex Cruz as the next CEO ?
I hear Vasu Raja was seen in the area.
He probably showered every day so he didn’t for the Air India culture. Lol
I asked Claude to parse your post. Swing and a miss!
"This looks like an autocorrect or voice-to-text error! The phrase "didn't for the Air India culture" almost certainly was meant to be something like "didn't fit the Air India culture" — with "fit" getting mangled into "for the Air India" somehow.
The joke seems to be a lighthearted stereotype that Air India (the Indian airline) has a reputation — at least in certain...
I asked Claude to parse your post. Swing and a miss!
"This looks like an autocorrect or voice-to-text error! The phrase "didn't for the Air India culture" almost certainly was meant to be something like "didn't fit the Air India culture" — with "fit" getting mangled into "for the Air India" somehow.
The joke seems to be a lighthearted stereotype that Air India (the Indian airline) has a reputation — at least in certain circles — for staff or passengers who don't prioritize frequent showering. So the humor is: "He showers every day, therefore he didn't fit that culture."
It's a crude ethnic/cultural joke, and the "Lol" signals the person or bot knew it was edgy."
His biggest failure was not getting legacy aircraft refurbished on a priority basis and not having a vision of establishing a mega hub.
A poor hiring in hindsight.
They need someone from the ME3. The fact that none of the airports in India are major transit hubs is crazy given where they are geographically. ME3 would be nowhere if Air India was ever competent
India could build a hundred massive hubs, but no one in their right mind (or a nose) would ever want to transit through that smelly country.
You're not wrong but you probably should not say it
They will bicker to no end about who should be a hub, and who should be the biggest hub. Nothing will happen.
With the turmoil in the Gulf, Air India does have an opportunity.
I'm not sure what the PR value is for announcing that the CEO has wanted to leave for 2 years - any experts, all ears
Air India is still a no from most other than nationals. A few good reviews of one plane are not going to change that soon.
Probably done as part of the exit agreements. It's useful for him to have a public declaration that this was a mutual decision.
He might even then be able to sell this as him wanting to leave earlier and the two years being driven by a desire to see through the transition into private ownership.
that makes sense except why Air India is accepting to make that into the public statement (mutual decision yes, but 2 years in the making?).
At this level, a CEO should just be able to say as much to the next party, or at worst have AI agree to verify it?
It's such a huge ding publicly for AI to say oh yeah our CEO actually wanted to leave for 2 years and now we've finally let them do it
If they hire a national, they have no chance of fixing the problems that are actually a problem.
I donno, that just seems like a bigoted comment.
i don´t about it being bigoted but it is wrong factually. CEOs of Indian origin are overrepresented in Fortune 500 companies and tend to outperform their peers.
Air India cannot and never will achieve its potential. The airline always has been and remains a hot mess.
Air-India - always has and will always will be a NO from me
They should get back Vinod Kannan. Currently SVP Sales and Marketing at SQ. He was the CEO of Vistara from 2022 to the merger, after which he was the Chief Integration Officer at Air India. Did pretty well at Vistara, but of course it was a fairly tiny airline. 70 airplanes at it's peak with 7 widebodies, compared to 300-400 planes with 100+ widebodies (even if you assume the 777X will be certified in 2050) for Air India mainline in the next few years.
@B-LRQ
"even if you assume the 777X will be certified in 2050"... lmao
So basically, things were moving in the right direction, just not fast enough?
I thought Akbar Al Baker was taking over?
(or so said a The Hindu article 7 days ago. The news is always correct particularly in April, right?)
I hope thats true, but given the state of Indian media, probably, there is no truth in it.
Given Akbar Al Baker's links to India, that wouldnt be too big a stretch? AI could do with some one of that stature.